Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
7.7 earthquake hits Kepulauan Tanimbar, Indonesia.
5.5 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.4 earthquake hits Kepulauan Tanimbar, Indonesia.
5.3 earthquake hits Java, Indonesia.
5.0 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits near the coast of western Turkey.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are no current tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
California, USA - As another powerful storm walloped California, a 5-year-old boy was swept away by floodwaters Monday on the state’s central coast and an entire seaside community that is home to Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities was ordered to evacuate on the fifth anniversary of deadly mudslides there. Tens of thousands of people remained without power, and some schools closed for the day. Streets and highways transformed into gushing rivers, trees toppled, mud slid and motorists growled as they hit roadblocks caused by fallen debris. The death toll from the relentless string of storms climbed from 12 to 14 on Monday, after two people were killed by falling trees, state officials said.
Ozone Layer to fully recover in decades - But ...
A UN-backed panel of experts, presenting at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting yesterday, said the ozone would heal by around 2066 over the Antarctic, by 2045 over the Arctic and by 2040 for the rest of the world.
Variations in the size of the Antarctic ozone hole, particularly between 2019 and 2021, were driven largely by meteorological conditions. Nevertheless, the Antarctic ozone hole has been slowly improving in area and depth since the year 2000.
However, so-called stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is increasingly seen as a potential stop-gap measure for capping temperatures long enough to tackle the problem of global warming at the source.
Scientists calculate that injecting 8 to 16 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere each year, roughly equivalent to Pinatubo's output, would cool Earth's temperature by about 1C. Simulations over Antarctica in October - when the ozone hole is biggest - show that so-called stratospheric aerosol injection over 20 years would lower global temperatures by 0.5C.
But there's a trade-off: the ozone layer would be reduced to its 1990 levels, only a third of what it was before the impact of human activity.
Most dangerous would be the unforeseen consequences which may include the disruption of African and Asian monsoons, upon which hundreds of millions depend for food, to a drying of the Amazon, which is already transitioning toward a savannah state.
Once the sulphur particles have been introduced into nature, they cannot be removed if something goes wrong!
Wildfires - Uruguay
The beginning of the year comes along with almost 30 fires in Uruguay, mostly forest fires, amid claims by the Fire Department for lack of personnel and equipment. The strong winds and high temperatures are hampering firefighting efforts in some 80 hectares of forest affected by a fire in Salinas and in which seven teams are working, in addition to the collaboration of volunteers, police, Air Force and military personnel.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
7.0 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.2 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.2 earthquake hits Morocco.
5.1 earthquake hits New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.
Two 5,0 earthquake hit Vanuatu.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are no current tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
California, USA - California was hit with more turbulent weather Sunday as thunderstorms, snow and damaging winds swept into the northern part the state, preceding another series of incoming storms and raising the potential for road flooding, rising rivers and mudslides on soils already saturated after days of rain. The National Weather Service warned of a “relentless parade of atmospheric rivers" — storms that are long plumes of moisture stretching out into the Pacific capable of dropping staggering amounts of rain and snow. In the state capital, more than 60,000 customers were still without electricity Sunday evening — down from more than 350,000 — after gusts of 60 mph (97 kph) knocked trees into power lines.
Anthrax - Kenya
Ten people have been admitted to hospitals for anthrax in Kisii County, according to local media. This follows an animal anthrax outbreak in the area. Many of those hospitalized are said to had feasted on meat from an infected carcass.
Brazil - Dengue Fever
The Brazil Ministry of Health released the arbovirus disease numbers for 2022 in a bulletin on January 6 and it shows that through week 52 last year, Brazil reported 1,016 confirmed dengue deaths in 2022. This is the first time the 1,000 fatality threshold has been topped.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 earthquake hits mindanao in the Philippines.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
In the Southern Hemisphere: Tropical cyclone 07p (Seven), located approximately 224 nm south-southeast of Noumea, New Caledonia, is tracking east-southeastward at 24 knots.
Newsbytes:
Australia - Western Australia’s “worst ever” flood has further highlighted the vulnerability of Australia’s supply chains as road trains travel huge distances around the flooded areas. On Saturday, record levels of water were pouring down the Fitzroy River, which had created a 50km-wide inland sea. The water across the Kimberley region had shut down parts of the crucial Great Northern Highway, damaged the bridge at Fitzroy Crossing and inundated the airstrip. And 105 people had been relocated from the region, with more expected to be airlifted out in the coming days.
Plastic ‘nurdles" devastate the environment
Nurdles are the raw material of the plastics industry.
Packed and shipped, in their billions, around the world, these lentil sized plastic pellets are then melted down and used as the building blocks for a vast array of items used in our daily lives - from computers and cars, to clothes and drink bottles.
Although the first reported sighting of nurdles on beaches was not until 1970, they have since been found on every continent except Antarctica.
According to Plastic Soup Foundation, each year, 230,000 tonnes enter our oceans and, within the EU alone, 23 billion nurdles a day end up in the environment.
Making their way down storm drains, into rivers and waterways, and eventually reaching our oceans, they are then distributed by wind and ocean currents to every corner of our planet, but are practically impossible to clean up due to their size.
Nurdles devastate the environment and marine life but, despite being one of the biggest sources of pollution in our oceans, they are often overlooked and urgently need to be classified as hazardous.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.0 earthquake hits south of Fiji.
5.0 earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina.
5.0 earthquake hits near the coast of western Turkey.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
In the Southern Hemisphere: Tropical cyclone 07p (Seven), located approximately 442 nm north-northeast of Brisbane, Australia, is tracking east-southeastward at 15 knots.
World's Glaciers Disappearing
If temperature rises are limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels - the most ambitious goal of the Paris climate accord - then 49 per cent of the world's glaciers will vanish by 2100, a new study has found. Sea levels will rise by 8 centimetres.
The study, published in the journal Science, made projections on the future of some 215,000 glaciers around the world, including in the Alps.
If temperatures increase by 4°C - a worst-case scenario, though still possible - then the world’s largest glaciers, for example in Alaska, will be more affected. 83 per cent of glaciers would disappear, with sea levels rising by 15 centimetres.
But there is still hope, if policymakers take aggressive steps to limit global warming ....
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.8 earthquake hits the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan.
5.1 earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are no current tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
DR Congo - Several people have died after heavy rain triggered floods and landslides in the city of Bukavu in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). Heavy rain fell in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province in the far east of the country on Wednesday 04 January 2023. There have been reports of enormous material damages in the city. Dozens of homes have been damaged and at least 4 completely destroyed, leaving many people homeless. Roads in the city and the nearby municipality of Kadutu are impassable. Several people had to be rescued from flood waters and there are reports of at least 8 people injured, with some hospitalized. Local media, quoting police sources, initially reported that at least 3 people, all minors, had died in Kadutu. Other media sources later reported at least 9 fatalities.
River Crisis
The flow of South America’s Paraguay River is nearing its third consecutive all-time low, threatening to cut off all river shipping from the Atlantic near Buenos Aires to Bolivia.
Three consecutive seasons of La Niña in the Pacific are blamed for ongoing low flows in the waterway.
The Paraguay is the only major river in South America that has not been dammed for hydroelectric power, meaning it can be used for shipping over long distances to provide an important trade corridor to the otherwise landlocked nations of Paraguay and Bolivia. While some urge that the river be dredged to improve flows, hydrology experts say only the return of regular and significant rainfall can resolve the problem.
Snowless Alps
As Europeans from Poland to France enjoyed sporting short-sleeved shirts around New Year’s Day, many ski slopes in the Alps were green with grass when they should normally be deep with wintertime snow. This has caused a crisis for some Alpine resort operators and threatened the World Cup skiing competition held at Switzerland’s Adelboden, which was run entirely on artificial snow.
French meteorologists say slopes above 2,200 metres have seen close to normal snowfall so far this winter, but snow is noticeably absent at lower elevations of the northern Alps and across the Pyrenees range that separates France and Spain.
Aggressive Fish
Hungry fish living among reefs that suffer from mass coral bleaching are more frequently getting into fights over food, which could threaten their survival. Researchers from Britain's Lancaster University made the discovery after observing 38 species of butterflyfish, which are especially vulnerable to bleaching since they eat the coral.
When a butterflyfish wants to signal to a competitor that a particular bit of coral is theirs, they point their noses down and raise their spiny dorsal fins. But when the confrontation doesn't resolve the dispute, one fish will chase the other until one gives up. With less food due to coral bleaching, they are forced to expend precious energy during far more chases over food.
Global Temperature Extremes
The week’s hottest temperature was 45.0 degrees Celsius (113 degrees F) at Dampier, Western Australia.
The week’s coldest temperature was minus 55.0 degrees Celsius (-67 degrees F) at Oimyakon, Siberia.
Temperatures were tabulated from the more than 10,000 worldwide synoptic weather stations. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization sets the standards for weather observations, and provides a global telecommunications circuit for data distribution.
